Bersa’s New
Thunder 380 Concealed Carry .380 ACP Auto Pistol

I get this recurring email so often that I can
almost read it in my sleep. It goes something like this:

"I read your article on the Bersa
.380 pistol and went out and bought one. You are right,
it is a great little pistol, and is downright cheap to buy
compared to other similar handguns!"

I have received hundreds of such emails over the
past four years, all but one praising the Bersa pistol. One guy
got one with a bad magazine, which Bersa promptly replaced. All
of the others have had only praise for the dandy little pistols.
They are reliable, well-built, inexpensive, and powerful enough
for most social situations. Contrary to what many of us
believe, every gun owner is not really "into guns" as
much as we might think. There are hordes of people who want a
good, reliable pistol with which to protect their family from
the scum in this world. They don’t want nor need ivory grips,
scroll engraving, Bomar sights, or fancy, extended
anythings. They just want a gun that works, every time. The
Bersa .380 Thunder delivers, and at a price that most anyone can
afford. I have found the Bersa pistols to be more reliable than
pistols costing three times the price.

There are also gun "experts" who state
pompously that the .380 ACP is a "mouse gun".
That is nothing but bovine excrement. The .380 would not be my
first choice of a weapon to take to a fight, but neither would
any other handgun. Handguns built for social encounters are a
compromise. One must weigh several factors to decide upon the
best firearm for their situation, such as size, weight, recoil,
and comfort, in addition to power. More power usually means a
heavier weapon with more recoil. Extremely light weight usually
means less power but better concealability. It is a balancing
act to achieve the perfect combination of features for your own
personal sidearm. The fact is, most people are not really
concerned with finding just the perfect weapon, but want
something that will save their hide, is easy to shoot accurately
enough to keep the bullets on target, and is compact enough to
have readily available at all times. My usual "always
gun" is a compact .38 Special S&W
342PD. Loaded with the right ammo, I feel pretty well
armed, but were I bound for a fight, I would much rather have a
rifle or shotgun in my hands. Anyway, the Bersa Thunder .380
fills the bill for many people.

A little over a year ago, I was looking at the
Bersa firearms display at the 2005
Shot Show, when a prototype of their new Thunder 380
Concealed Carry pistol was shown to me, and I immediately began
my relentless pursuit to get one. It took longer than any of us
anticipated, but the weapon is now in full production, and it
should prove be a hot item for a long time to come.

The Concealed Carry (CC) is a slimmed and
trimmed version of the Bersa Thunder .380, and the subtle
changes make a big difference in the feel and concealability of
the weapon. The CC weighs in at only 17.4 ounces unloaded, and
is about the same size as my J-frame Smith & Wesson. The CC
uses the same eight-shot magazines of the Thunder, but with a
flat magazine floorplate for better concealment. The grip panels
are very thin, but textured for a secure grasp. The backstrap is
rounded and grooved, with finger grooves machined into the frame
for a very comfortable hold. All of the controls are
low-profile, but easy to reach and operate. The thumb
safety is right side only, serves to safely drop the hammer
without firing the weapon, and imposes a block between the
hammer and firing pin, while disconnecting the trigger.
The weapon also has a magazine disconnect safety, rendering the
pistol inoperable when the magazine is removed. On the left side
of the slide is a loaded chamber indicator. On the left side of
the frame, just above the trigger, is an internal key lock for
those who like to use such devices to secure the weapon from
firing. Also on the left side is the slide release lever
and magazine release button. On the right side of the frame is
the take-down latch for easy disassembly of the weapon for
cleaning. Like its big brother, the Concealed Carry has a barrel
that is fixed to the frame, which also serves as a recoil spring
guide rod. It is a very simple, reliable blow-back operated
weapon. As stated earlier, the Bersa CC is very close in
size to a five-shot thirty-eight, but is much thinner. It
conceals very well in a jeans pocket or a slim holster. In an
inside-the-pants holster, it would all but disappear. It is a
very concealable weapon, and with a nine-shot total capacity,
offers almost twice the firepower of the five-shot
thirty-eight. Needless to say, I was elated when the
long-awaited little pistol finally arrived.

The one that I received for testing wears a
satin nickel finish on its steel slide and aluminum frame, along
with most of the small parts. With the black textured grip
panels, it makes for a very good-looking pistol, and the nickel
offers some corrosion resistance to the weapon. For now at
least, Lipsey’s in Louisiana is the exclusive
distributor for the nickel finished Concealed Carry Bersa. For a
weapon that will mostly be carried close to the body, the nickel
is a worthwhile option, and would be my choice. The blued
version will be available shortly, but the first shipment is of
the nickel pistols.

Shooting the little Bersa proved to be a
thoroughly enjoyable experience. The weapon is very comfortable
to shoot, and reliability has proven to be one hundred percent
perfect so far, with a variety of factory and handloaded
ammunition. The little Bersa is much more pleasant to shoot and
easier to control than the really small .380 autos, but is still
small enough to conceal well. I believe that only good, high
performance hollowpoint or other frangible ammunition should be
carried in a .380 pistol for defense, so that is all that I
bothered chronographing, but I did test some full metal jacket
ammo just for fun. Most ammo was Jacketed Hollowpoint (JHP),
except for the specialty Glaser pre-fragmented ammo. For
years, I carried nothing but blue Glasers in my AMT Backup
.380 pistol, and that is also my ammo of choice for my .38
Special pocket gun. It is good stuff. Glaser Blue is made of
number 12 shot, and the Silver is made of number 6 shot. These
shot are compressed into a metal jacket with a polymer ball
sealing the tip. Both are devastating on soft tissue, but reduce
the chance of over-penetration. I chronographed several
different personal defense loads with the results listed
below. The velocities are listed in feet-per-second (fps).

As stated earlier, all ammo functioned perfectly
through the little Bersa. The high performance ammo performed
well from the Bersa’s three and one-quarter inch barrel. The
trigger pull was very good for a pistol of this type, being very
smooth, with a double action pull weight of just over eight
pounds, and a single action pull weight of four and one-quarter
pounds.

The Bersa fires normally from a double action
first shot, transitioning to single action for subsequent shots.
The slide locks open after the last shot, as it should on a
defensive pistol.

The Bersa Thunder 380 Concealed carry was worth
the wait. The pistol functions reliably, is comfortable to
shoot, and is easy to carry concealed. Rapid fire drills
found the little pistol easily capable of keeping a magazine
full of rounds on a standard silhouette target torso at thirty
yards, and inside the head area at seven yards, again fired as
fast as I could get the front sight back on target.

With the new Thunder 380 Concealed Carry, Bersa
has another winner. It should prove to be as popular as the
original Thunder. It is a great little pistol, at an excellent
price. I like it.

The nickel version is available only through
Lipsey’s, so have your dealer contact them at: 1-800-666-1333.

Thumb safety is right-hand only, trading some Southpaw
ergonomics for a more concealable overall thickness.

Sights are rudimentary, but acceptable for a close-range
carry pistol.

The Thunder 380 CC compares favorably in size to Jeff's
"always gun", a .38 Special S&W 342PD. While the
Thunder 380 CC is equivalent in "footprint" size, it
is noticeably thinner than the revolver and offers greater
firepower.

Author tested the Thunder 380 CC with a variety of
factory and handloaded ammunition.

Nine-shot group at seven yards shows that the Thunder
380 CC is both accurate and controllable in rapid fire.

Bersa's Thunder 380 CC is a fine successor to one of our
favorite carry pistols, the original Thunder
380, and should prove to be even more popular.